Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Wednesday 01/31 A.M. Quickie:Media Day Is SUPPOSED to Be Farce

UPDATE: Theo Epstein got married?! Last month?! How did no one hear about this? That Theo: So cagey! Mazel tov! (Extra points to anyone who can find out where they're registered.)

Super Bowl XLI Media Day Hangover: Is there anything more annoying or disingenuous than the sports reporters who gripe about the circus that has become Super Bowl Media Day?

Here's a big, fat STFU: First of all, they're covering the Super Bowl in Miami, not the World Economic Forum at Davos. Second, it's precisely the circus-style atmosphere that they milk for column inches:

*The "15 minutes of fame" pop-culture reporters: This year, the two American Idol rejects (this year's William Hung) -- Kenneth Briggs and Jonathan Jayne – who are now comically connected forever.

Screw it: This is what makes Media Day remotely interesting. God knows that the sports reporters won't be able to do it. And it beats hearing about "real" stories like Tank Johnson.

More SB XLI: I am so wary of any player who expresses a sense of "Just happy to be here." Anyone catch any players doing that?

Peyton Manning was the big Media Day attraction among players: Is he the league's biggest star right now? (Consider his TV-ad binge this season.) He's a little too polished, his answers to 150 questions in an hour a little too pat.

So: Who else finds it easy to root against Peyton? I think he's destined to be this generation's Dan Marino -- arguably the most talented QB of his era... but never winning that Super Bowl ring.

XLI X-factor Debate: I had coffee this morning with a big Bears fan, and he's got me thinking that Devin Hester (combined with the Colts' piss-poor special-teams, aside from Adam V) is going to be the difference in the game. Is Devin the new Desmond (Howard) – the special-teams player who wins MVP honors?

More of today's biggest storylines:

Kobe suspended: Kobe was "shocked" – and will appeal? The league says there's no way that quasi-KO was inadvertent. I'm with the league here. (Meanwhile, without Kobe, the Lakers lost to the Knicks last night.

Gilbert Arenas for MVP: 36 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds and the best-in-East Wizards beat the Pistons – and that was mostly without Antawn Jamison playing for D.C. Eddie Jordan: "We kicked their butts." Wow: That's so uncharacteristic of Jordan. Pole position to coach the East All-Stars must be getting to his head or something.

Bonds clause: If he's indicted, the Giants can get out of the new contract. But if he's close to passing Aaron, would they want to?

(By the way, Barry Bonds' agent said that he has no plans to retire and could reach "1,000" home runs. That's kind of ludicrous, but if you just stop and think about that number for a second, it's wild.)

Cowboys coaching search: Yeah, yeah, they talked to Singletary. But everyone agrees it was a sham to satisfy the Rooney Rule. The good news for Singletary: He'll be a head coach by this time next year; he's better off not being in Dallas, anyway. Where's the upside there?

OJ Mayo plays: He scored 19 points and his Huntington (WV) team beat national Top 15 team Artesia (CA) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Way bigger: Does that position No. 2 Huntington to take over the national top spot? No. 1 St. Benedict's (NJ) lost to No. 4 St. Patrick's (NJ) last night. Ah: The mythical high school hoops national-title debate! It makes the BCS system look definitive.

Carmelo-vs.-Shanoff MySpace Challenge Update: As of 9:30 this morning, I'm at 220 friends. Carmelo is at 30,737. It's a moving target, but that puts me a mere 88 friends from reaching my "1 percent" goal. Have you checked out the page yet?

(Meanwhile, here's an interesting tidbit you can only know by perusing MySpace pages: One of Carmelo's featured "friends" is Marc Spears, the Nuggets beat reporter for the Denver Post. Now, I'm no journalism ethics prude and I'm all about the new realities of new media, but that strikes me as a strange manifestation of even the most elastic version of "objectivity.")

Check that: What a waste of money. I could create a Photoshop image of the phrase "Future Sex Cannon" and iron it onto a onesie for free. And it would be much more fun. Who knew selling out my kid for my own enjoyment would be so easy and fulfilling?

Glad you cleared up any misunderstanding on that last item. Calling a 9-month old boy a "sex cannon" could have had some odd repercussions, otherwise.

The whole Kobe suspension strikes me as completely vindictive, though I can't imagine for what. There's no way he threw the elbow intentionally - there wasn't enough time to find Manu, line him up, throw the elbow, and make it look inadvertant.

As for rooting against Peyton... it's extremely easy to do. And fun. :)

Umm, "sex cannon" was not coined by KSK. That's been around for awhile, just like Rextacy...

I can't stand Manning. He's just the kind of guy that teammates hate. And I don't like those guys. I couldn't go to "war" with him, so I hope the Bears win. But if the Bears do, in fact, pull it off, it'll cement Urlacher as the media's new Golden Boy, and I don't exactly want that, either. What's a fan to do?

Dan, if you dress your toddler in a Rex Grossman jersey, you're asking for a tough life for him. He'll probably spend the next couple years getting hurt as he learns how to walk. Then he'll get into elementary school and pass with almost straight A's. He'll alternate 3.5s with 1.5s in middle school, and in high school he have a 1.0 GPA throughout, but a random A here and there. He'll fail to graduate senior year with a 0.0 GPA, claiming that he didn't prepare that much because it didn't really matter and he was distracted by the girls.

Thank you, Dan! Mo Rocca is the most unfunny person on television. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to hear someone else say it. While I am usually open-minded to others' opinions of 'funny', Mo Rocca is the least funny person who consistently shows up on cable news as the 'comic relief.' If Keith Olbermann puts him on one more time, well, I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't believe they let that guy on The Daily Show.

people, get it right. the bumping of the referee has NOTHING to do with OJ's suspension. 2 technicals ='s ejection of the game ='s 2 game suspension. rules are rules. don't taunt (technical #1) and don't mouth off and start a fight (technical #2). he's a f-ing thug. what do you expect?

I'm sure the jouralist merely signed up to be Carmelo's friend on MySpace to keep track of Melo's updates, news, and whatever else he decides to post or send to his community of friends. In this MySpace age, it's really the best way to keep up with people, and a journalist would be crazy NOT to do everything he could to get the inside story.

I actually think Dane is pretty funny. I do find the fact that he ha sblown up so much to be a tad bit annoying though. I hate to pull the "I was listening to him before he was so popular" card, but I have been a fan for a long time. Actualy I would compare Dane to Rex Grossman. When he's on top of his game he is great. When he is off, all you hear is crickets.

@ Rafael, I totally agree about Latinas. Something about Latinas is inherently sexy. I've never had a latina girlfriend. I should work on that. lol

Dane Cooks retaliation cd is very very funny...he killed his career and all credibility by doing that tv show on HBO and his latest comedy special sucked. The HBO show just made him look like a whiny 15 year old girl.

Still have yet to see the Kobe video - stupid restricted access at work - but I'm hearing mixed reviews of its garbage and its deserved...anyone have a non-youtube/non-espn clip anywhere?

Dan, are you just going to dress your kid in whatever team's jersey is in the BCS Championship game/super bowl/nba finals/world series/world cup/stanley cup finals for that particular year - if so, his wardrobe is going to get ridiculously expensive.

From Mark Cuban's blog: "The NHL on NBC beat College Basketball on CBS, 1.1 to .70 Is College Basketball doomed ? Does no one care anymore about college basketball ? Is the NHL on a resurgent climb ? (This just in, NHL was up again to 1.3 on NBC)"

Take that, anti-NHLers! More people mis-pronounce Nikolai Khabibulin than Joakim Noah!

At least Buffalo OWNS Boston in hockey!

Here's a quick tip: if you're putting the words "toddler" and "sex" in the same sentence, you might have been online too long.

Kevin, that was awesome. They should just issue every High School Senior Rex Grossman jerseys.

Just a quick reminder, regarding Desmond Howard.....Guess who kicked OFF that touchdown he ran back. A certain #4.

The thing about Mo Rocca, is that while most of the people on I Love the 80's were retreads clinging to some small bastion of fame....he actually appears to have gotten his START there. Like he's working backwards.

"Sorry, ladies of Boston: Your hopes of bedding the youngest GM in baseball history, the man partly responsible for the Red Sox World Championship and one rockin' guitar hero are over. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein went out and got himself secretly married last month.

Epstein, who turned 33 last Dec. 29, has been fiercely protective of his privacy, especially in regard to his engagement to Whitney, 28, who was pursuing graduate studies in health care policy at Harvard four years ago when she became a volunteer at Horizons for Homeless Children, which addresses the needs of homeless children in family shelters throughout the state.

Epstein, who proposed to Whitney at Davio's restaurant in the Back Bay last May, did not formally announce his engagement, and chafed at media reports about their pending nuptials.We love that Boston is so crazy about baseball that the wedding of the Red Sox general manager would require a media blackout. Contrary to early reports, Epstein did not get married at Coney Island in Brooklyn, which is good, because it's freaking freezing there."

If true, these numbers only show that Gary Bettman is the WORST commissioner of all time...in any sport, and should be fired immediately. True or false, if a chimpanzee was the commissioner, the NHL would be doing better?

As for Dane Cook/Mo Rocca. I'm a fan of Dane Cook and he used to be very funny, but became to big for his (and his listeners) own good as was evident in his last special/HBO series. He still has hope for the future though if he concentrated on being funny rather than stroking his ego. Mo Rocca was never funny, isn't funny now and never will be funny.

The problem with Dane Cook is that he repeats the same joke over and over and over. And his problem is that he repeats the same joke. And if you don't laugh..he repeats the same joke. Then he REPEATS THE SAME JOKE (louder), until he's finally screaming and then people laugh because I think they're scared.

@Todd, how are they doing that? No license means no real teams or players. Did they find a way around that. I know the MLB rights that 2K have makes them the the only thrid party developer that can use the licensed names (meaning Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo could make their own MLB games exclusively for their respective consoles i.e. MLB the Show). But the NFL license that EA bought up is exclusive, meaning neither first nor third party developers can use NFL names.

as far as kobe, he got what he deserved. I agree with Stu Jackson, there is no way that was a basketball move, and whether he was just trying to draw a foul or whatever, he intentionally swung his arm and clocked Manu in the head. Now you can debate whether hitting Manu should be allowed by the NBA, as I think it should. I would probably punch him too if he was guarding me the whole game.

True that Madden has the exclusive NFL license for NFL players, but there are ways around it. 2k could do like they do with NCAA 2K7 and have teams with only numbers, and allow you to manually enter the names of players, which are in the database and can be used with the in-game announcers. For instance, in NCAA 2K7, you can enter in 'J-O-A' and it will have 'Joakim' selectable as a name, along with other clearly non-traditional anglo names.

Or they could use retired players. Beats me, but as long as the gameplay is good, it'll at least force EA to put up a better Madden game than has come out the past two years. Why is it that my Xbox 360 version of Madden has LESS features than the regular Xbox version? Why EA, why?

back @ Todd, Yea I've heard that about the 360 versions of Madden. I don't know why they would do that honestly. It seems that EA worked so hard on developing the next gen graphics that they forgot the fact that most players like a lot features to back it up. A stripped down game that is awesome visually doesn't have much replay value once you've played it for a little bit...

I can't wait for the 2k NFL game. I haven't bought a football game since they stopped selling them. Loved the "Crib" feature with bobbleheads, posters, furniture.

I'm hoping it's a "Hall of Fame" style game with downloadable fantasy rosters (which would then legally include real rosters that volunteers worked on online). It won't have real team names, which always hurt me worse than player names. But Madden never had real names on the old teams, so it would be cool to finally see real names and learn/remember those great teams.

At some point, the NFL and EA will realize that genuine names are not worth all that extra money, because the Internet makes hacking too easy.

Yeah, the biggest feature missing in Madden '07 for the 360 is the Owner mode (and fantasy draft). I always loved doing the fantasy draft, because I could play as the Pats but employ the Michael Vick offense, and design the clear out plays where you'd have Vick run for 20 yards per play where receivers would just clear out of one side.

I did 7 seasons of Madden '05 and Madden '06, but stopped in the middle of my 3rd season this year.

So anyway, what's a high-school team from West Virginia doing playing a midweek game in North Carolina against a team from California in the first place? Meaning two days of missed school for the California kids to go play two hours of basketball, right? Hello, effed-up priorities. I mean, these aren't college kids, who supposedly can keep up with classes on their own (and where cutting lecture is no disaster anyway). Also, it's high school, theoretically the minimum educational achievement everyone needs these days, that they're depriving these kids of, presumably for basketball bucks.

Ok, I've been stuck in meetings all morning, and I'll be stuck in them all afternoon so I have to get my comments in now before 1:00 Central Time.

Mark, you hit the nail on the head. I was wondering the EXACT same thing. But that's what sports has come to--all about the Benjamin's(see my post in the State of the Sports Union post). It's very sad especially when Mayo gets out of a suspension that was clearly legitimate. He got 2 technicals. That is an ejection.

As for Peyton, I'm rooting for him. I've always respected him as a football player and plus, he carried me to my FFL championship 2 years ago when he broke the TD record.

Bid D: I think that Adam V gets in the HOF easily. He's a lock. Bottom line, in today's game of football, kickers are important (see Cowboys playoff loss and Bengals loss to Broncos in week 15). They are just as important as anyone else and therefore if Vinitiari is the greatest kicker ever, he's a lock and probably a first ballot.

I too saw the Kobe video and I also think the suspension was legit. It was intentional. There's no way that an arm should go flailing around like that without intent.

#2 Huntington (W.Va.) will obviously move up to #1 in the country assuming that they beat Scott County (#1 in Kentucky) on thursday because #1 St. Benedict's (Nj.) lost last night to #4 St. Patrick (Nj.). St. Benedict's (Nj.) will probobly drop to #4 next week because #3 Oak Hill Academy (Va.) beat #6 Mater Dei (Ca.) last night. So the Top 5 will probobly shape up:1. Huntington (W.Va.)2. Oak Hill Academy (Va.)3. St. Patrick's (Nj.)4. St. Benedict's (Nj.)5. Montrose Christian (Md.)**=Assuming Montrose #1 in DC area beats T.C. Williams (Va.) (yes that T.C. Williams, the one from Remember The Titans) who is #2 in the DC area.

Oh, and Dan, the question about whether it's easy to root against Peyton Manning is like a batting-practice pitch, meant to be crushed into the stands. Of COURSE it's easy to root against him--have you read any Bill Simmons in the last five years?

Of course, it's just as easy to root for him--he's smart, driven, intense, articulate, a student of the game, and a master tactician, so he does things the right way and he's old-school, or hadn't you heard?

Both positions are well-trod, and people on both sides are tired of seeing his face plastered everywhere; can we talk about something else?

(I'm rooting for him. Not just because I'm a Colts fan, but because I would dearly love him to make those smartass Bostonians shut up and go away.)

I really hope the Colts lose and lose on an interception returned for a TD. As for Adam while he is a good kicker, Kickers just do not make the Hall and that is going to be his problem. Ron Borges was on ESPN890 on Monday basically saying the same thing. That Adma probably should be make to the Hall of Fame but probably will not.

"...but because I would dearly love him to make those smartass Bostonians shut up and go away."

We'll never leave. We'll stand and defend our right to be obnoxious. To tell you why are teams are so much superior to yours, and if we lost to you, to tell you how the refs jobbed us over.

We'll only get stronger. Every defeat (though obviously the fault of crooked officials) simply strengthens our resolve as fans to lord over the supporters of every other "inferior" team. Every victory only justifies our position.

Didn't us smartass Bostonians admit that we just got beat by you guys a week ago, and say that Peyton Manning played a hell of a game? I mean, realistically, Peyton didn't really do that well against NE in the playoffs before last week.

As a smartass Bostonian, I'm rooting for Peyton just so that we don't have to hear more about how he won't ever win one. It'll make the Pats/Colts rivalry even better if Peyton wins one, right?

Plus, I really hate Rex Grossman, and any Bears apologists who claim he's not inconsistent (obviously this doesn't include sensible Bears fans who acknowledge Good Rex/Bad Rex). Just thinking about Rex Grossman, Super Bowl winner just gives me enough reason to root for the Colts.

I think the Kobe suspension is a little weird just from having watched the game. Nobody from the Spurs or in the booth seemed to think anything of it. Can't feel too bad for anything that goes wrong for Kobe, though. Good luck with the myspace thing, Dan, I added you!

Todd, Not a chance I as a Patriots fan could root for the Colts. That would pretty much be like a Red Sox fan rooting for the Yankees or a Bruins fans rooting for the Canadiens or a Celtics fan rooting for The Lakers. How can you root for one of your main rivals? Plus My sense is if Manning wins the media and Ad blitz we have seen over the last year will only get worse not better.

No way I hold the Colts in the same hatred as the Yankees, Lakers, Canadiens (if I really cared about the Bruins)... the rivalry is fairly recent, and it's not like Indy has had a ton of success recently. To me, the Jets rivalry is a much bigger deal.

The only thing amusing about Peyton not being a Super Bowl champ is the amusement we can all get from Dan Marino's co-hosts when they compare him and talk about how he didn't win the big one. The look on Marino's face is priceless everytime as he tries to maintain that it really doesn't matter to him while his face turns a little sickly green. I do kind of agree with one previous poster.. if Peyton wins a championship, the big storyline about his career is over and he should drop out of the spotlight to a certain degree. All you anti-Manning people out there should be rooting for this scenario.

Personally I think the Colt's have a gameplan to deal with Hester. They will almost assuredly do everything they can to keep the ball out of his hands. The special teams guys were on the radio here yesterday and they all acknowledge that he is their #1 priority. That said, there is no guarantees that he still doesn't torch the Colts. Time will tell.

Kobe was right to appeal. The hit was not intentional. If anything, they should suspend Manu for a game for his weak-ass soccer-style flopping techniques. You know the routine: flop, writhe on the floor in excrutiating pain until you get the whistle, then get up and walk back to the huddle like it ain't no thang. I realize it is acting awards season and all, but come on...

BTW - sounds to me like Rex is just a couple commercials away from replacing Payton as the most dispicable QB around. At least now that Jake the Snake is riding shotgun.

Kept getting pulled away while making my last post. I think of all NFL kickers, Adam Vinatieri absolutely has to go HOF. I think I heard that there is only one kicker that is in the HOF currently, but how you pass up a guy that has single handledly won multiple super bowls, and multiple playoff games is unfathomable. This guy has made every kick when it counted in the playoffs and he is an absolute media darling.. no way he doesn't get in when his time comes. There is just going to be too much media hype showing replays of him kicking field goals in the snow or as time expires in multiple super bowls and playoff games for the voters to ignore.

Speaking of the NFL video games.. What I want to see is a game that will update the roster online, so if you wanted to, you could actually play full 60 minute games once a week replicating the real season, and any injuries or trades would be present. And of course the following season there would be an update with the new schedule and roster changes so you wouldn't have to buy the same game over again. I know.. wishful thinking.

As to the rivalry thing.. I guess I am weird in some ways.. my two favorite NHL teams are the Red Wings and Blackhawks. Water and oil for 99.9% of NHL fans, but if the Blackhawks were to ever take out my Wings in the playoffs, I would root for them the rest of the way. In the NFC my two favorite teams are the Packers and Bears.. same thing there. With that said.. that doesn't work when it comes to Colts/Pats. NE can eat a big.. well you know.

Ah yes, Daddy Rosee, the infamous closer-by-commitee experiment looks like it may resurface at Fenway. god help all us Red Sox fans. (And yes it is closer-by-commitee. Anyone who says bullpen by commitee is a bleepin idiot. A bullpen is by definition a commitee. But I digress).

Hopefully (for us fans not for haters like you Rosee), one of the 11 guys who could potentially close steps up and takes the job. It seems the Sox are gonna be on the flip side of last year's problem. They had a solid closer, but the rotation and middle relief was so bad that it made it moot and limited Papebon's opportunities. Now it looke like the rotation is solid, the middle relief is improved (hopefully) but there is nmo definitive stopper at the end of the game. *sigh* I love being a Sox fan :-/

Ok, seriously everyone and their hating of all things Peyton need to shut up! The man is a GREAT quarterback. It is INCREDIBLY possible that by the time his career ends, we will think of him as the greatest QB ever!! So he lost a couple of playoff games. Guess what?? So did Elway until the mid-90's when he had Terrell Davis to carry the team to the SB. Give the man his dues. Does he do a few commercials? Yes, but so does everybody that has a big name in sports. Deal with it. His Mastercard commercials are actually pretty funny.

I'd be leary of any Pats fan who says, that's okay, Peyton can win one, he'll never get to the 3 Brady's got.

In 1991, it was Bulls-Lakers, and as a big Celtics fan (because hey, they were good back then), I took it upon myself to want the Lakers to win the title. My friend argued it would be okay if Jordan won one, since he'd never win the 3 that Bird had at the time.

(Although, I never understood how Jordan was on Wheaties boxes before that title. Breakfast of Champions? What, *scoring* champions count now?)

Anyways, my point is be careful what you wish for.

As for the need for a closer, I am reminded of the '99 Pedro playoff game. Why hasn't a team just started the game with 2 or 3 innings of its bullpen, and then let the horses (starters) pitch innings 3 through 9? If you've got someone who can only give you 5 innings....have them pitch 5 through 9.

Right, and they don't have lakes in Los Angeles (or streetcars to dodge, for that matter), a jazz scene in Utah, or any historical references to hornets' nests in New Orleans. Teams move more often than we like to pretend, and keep their old names far more often than they should. But in a way it's nice for a team in a new city to still have a link to some history, even if it is someplace else.

Oh, and by the way, you Boston folk, I should probably point out that I did live there (okay, Somerville, same thing) for three and a half years. Nothing against you or the town, but Boston people are at their most charming when they're complaining about a losing team. Maybe this is skewed, since I lived there from 1996-2000, long after the Celts' dominant era and just before the Pats', so I didn't get a proper sample size. So, um, how about those Bruins?

I am not worried about who will be the Red Sox Closers. There are plenty of candidates and I think by the time Spring Training is over on will have emerged. Either that or the Red Sox sign Clemens and put Papelbon back as Closer. Or if Lester is healthy enough to start the season in the Rotation you can close with papelbon. So either way the Red Sox will have someone who is the designated closer.

As for the Super Bowl I want Manning to lose and lose becuase of him. For all you idiots who think manning will just go away after winning , you are completly fooling yourself. It will only be worse since there will be even more companies that will want him because he was a Super Bowl Champion. Manning will go down as one of the greatest QB's ever but since he is going to lose on Sunday he will go down as the Greatest to Never win a Super Bowl.

I can say being a Boston Sports Fan sucks at the Moment. The Patriots are done for the season, Spring Training is weeks away and the Celtics and Bruins suck. Man, this is turning out to be a bad winter and it will only get worse if the Colts win the SUper Bowl

I was at a Shaw's on Comm Ave the other day, and saw A-Rod on a Wheaties box. Clearly, it means absolutely nothing anymore.

Yes, Boston fans are at the best [and worst] when we're complaining. I agree wholeheartedly. That being said, part of the reason I came to live in Boston (from SoCal) was that the fans actually seem to be pretty knowledgeable, and for the most part not fair weather. Hate as you will, but at least most Boston fans aren't fair weather.

Why has nobody jumped on Mcnabb for all the Chunky Soup commercials we have had to endure? Most of the Manning commercials are at least humorous the first few times you see them. Seeing McNabb and his mom makes me want to cry myself to sleep. And now we have Hasselback in them.

I think it's funny that McNabb's ads are for NEW ENGLAND clam chowder.

As in, wouldn't that make him throw up?

Honestly, though, they couldn't pick a different non-symbolic soup for him? Their "turkey pot pie" is pretty good, despite containing no actual pot. (A stupid comment that can usually make one ex-hippie in the supermarket aisle smirk.)

cmfrost.. I think you must have been chugging some haterade today. I look forward to seeing your posts next week after Peyton has hoisted the Lombardi trophy and nobody can ever again talk about him not winning a superbowl. And if by chance the Colts don't win the title this year, is anyone here really delusional enough to think Manning, Harrison, Wayne, Clark and Adai aren't good enough to get back to this level again next year? Especially after the defense gets some (hopefully) beefed up in the off-season... Half you guys make it sound like Manning is set to turn 40 next year and retire, and this is his last gasp for a title.

Speaking of McNabb, why does his name not ever come up in the coversation of QBs who can't win the big one? 4 tries to get past the NFC championship game.. then in the superbowl he sicks up and shits the bed when he is given a chance to win or tie the game.. He should be the posterboy for NFL choker when it comes to the big games. I'm just sayin'....

Generik, I think you have a valid point about McNabb never being brought up. I think you can attribute that to two things. First, and most importantly, I think that the general perception has been that Manning has had more talent around him in his career than McNabb has had. Fair or not, that is the perception. And there is some truth to it. Manning has two great receivers in Harrison and Wayne, pretty good RBs in Edge and now Addai (though he was a surprise this year I think), a decent third receiver in Brandon Stokley, and good tight ends in Marcus Pollard and now Dallas "Don't call me Dwight" Clark. McNabb has never had that many weapons at once.

The Second reason, and I hate to say it, likely has to do with the fact that McNabb is black. I'm not trying to play a race card at all, but it seems that the non-black sports media is hesitant to levy criticism on black qbs for fear of being labeled a racist. Mike Vick got a free pass for the first part of his career. Only recently has he come under intense scrutiny. I think the same holds true for McNabb. I think he gets let off the hook a little bit more than he should, and I think Manning gets a little more blame than he should. As much as you can point to Manning's costly mistakes in big games prior to this season, equal blame should have been placed on porous defenses and management that overspent on offense but never upgraded much on D. Even as a Pats fan, I'm ok if Peyton wins Sunday, if only to never again hear the talk of him not being able to win the big one. He'll still be in commercials either way for years to come, whether he wins or loses. And I'm ok with that, cuz like was stated before, his commercials are generally pretty funny. (except that powerade one where he was busting out of the thrash bag or whatever. That was just weird...)

@ CMfost, Papelbon's injury last year really scared the Sox brass. One of the reasons he is being moved to the rotation is because they feel it will be less wear on his shoulder to pitch every 5th day rather than 2 or 3 days in a row and constantly warming up and sitting down in the 'pen. It'd be hard to imagine any situation where they'd move him back into the closers role. I'd actually be shocked if it happened.

oh and one more quick side note since the name was brought up. No matter if you love or hate the Sox, you have to give respect to Jon Lester if he comes back healthy and ready to go on Opening Day. The kid is my age and I can't imagine how scary it is to be diagnosed with any form of cancer at such a young age. I'm glad that he was able to recover and deserves to be applauded for his courage. Not that his fight was any more difficult than anyone else who is diagnosed with cancer, but to be able to come back so quickly and perform at baseball's highest level is remarkable. Even you, Daddy Rosee, have to at least grudgingly respect that, no?

Generik, I actually think if the Colts are ever going to win it, It has to be this years. Since there Defense is only going to get worse since they do not have the Salary Cap room next year to Keep Harper, June and Freeney unless they cut someone and hurt the offense.

Thank you Ted Turner for the Traffic Jams in Boston today. F'n Morons didn't they think they should call the Police and let them know beforehand.

BREAKING NEWS: Turner Broadcasting is expected to issue an apology for causing today's series of bomb scares throughout Boston. A statement emailed to the Globe from Turner Broadcasting said: "The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."

And sadly, I think Lester won't be ready by the beginning of the year (I keep hearing the All-Star break as the most optimistic target).

And also, I think that a lot of people get on McNabb for not being able to win the big game, his name just didn't get brought up a whole lot this year since he missed the 2nd half of the year... in this culture of Dan's "instant history," being out of the spotlight for even a few months can make it seem like people aren't hard on him. People I think do have the perception that he can't win the big game, it's just that Peyton is more visible right now.

And yes, McNabb's commercials suck way more than Peyton's (esp. Mastercard ads).

I do generally agree.. the Colts need to win this year.. but with that said, I think they could part with Stokely or Harrison. Maybe part of a trade for some defense help. They are so loaded on the offensive side of the ball that losing one of those guys won't decimate the offense.. and the defense absolutely needs some work.

And H, you make some valid points about McNabb.. he has done more historically with less then Manning. (I was mainly trying to deflect some Manning bashing to a different person :^P)

I think if they let Harrison leave, some team will overpay for him. Kinda like Edge....how'd that *really* work out for Az? He'll have okay numbers, but the missing chemistry he (normally....Chiefs game not included) has with Peyton will be lost.

Ya gotta figure that SD won't drop too much...and the Pats might actually draft receiving help (some fresh blood at inside linebacker would be good, too)....so it should be interesting to see how the Colts can sustain / defend their AFC title next year. If they win the super bowl, ya gotta figure the Pats will be that first Thursday matchup.

I heard a "jinx" that the Jets have never beaten the year's super bowl winner. That ruined the Pats' chances right then and there.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.